In the construction industry, individual homes generally are built from the ground up. First the foundation, then the ground floor, are constructed. Then, the walls must be built. One way of doing this is to prefabricate sections of wall, lay them on the floor, and raise them into position. Generally, this is done individually and sequentially. One section of wall is raised, and is placed in position by construction workers. The wall section must be exactly vertical, perpendicular to the floor. To ensure that the wall is at a 90.degree. angle, the construction workers measure the position of the wall, and fix the wall in position by nailing struts to the wall and floor to hold the wall in place. After construction of the level is completed, the struts are removed.
This procedure requires the use of a number of nails which must then be removed, and requires several construction workers to raise, position, and brace a wall.
Those reasonably skilled in the art of construction currently use the method described above, whereby the wall is raised, positioned first by "eye" and refined by use of tools such as a plumb line, and retained in position with a series of "2-by-4s" nailed to the wall. A search for prior art yielded six references:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,404 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,872,634 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,361 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,727,885 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,700,202 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,574,981 PA1 first and second elongated members each having proximal and distal ends, and being pivotally attached to one another at their proximal ends; PA1 a connector plate affixed to the distal end of the first member for affixing to the floor of a building under construction; PA1 wall affixing means attached to the distal end of the second member for removably affixing the second member to the upper end of a prefabricated wall when said wall is initially lying flat on the floor with a base in a location desired for the wall when erected, such that the wall to which the second elongated member is attached may be moved to a position perpendicular to the floor, such position determined, among other things, by the combined length of the first and second members, the position where the connector plate is affixed to the floor, and the position on the wall where the second member is affixed. PA1 providing an apparatus as described above; PA1 affixing the connector plate at the distal end of the first elongated member of claim 1 to the floor of a building under construction; PA1 affixing the distal end of the second elongated member of claim 1 to the upper end of a prefabricated wall; PA1 raising the wall to the point where the brace is opened to the open position wherein the first and second elongated members are coextensive, such that the wall is moved to a position perpendicular to the floor; and PA1 securing the members in the open position.